A factual analysis of the Kappos tenure reveals that he did fix problems at the Patent Office.

I suspect that you want certainty with patent searches, and that is just not practical. Patent examiners have only so many hours to do their job, which necessarily means that they have less hours to search and consider prior art than we might like for them to have. So we have the option of destroying the patent system and bringing it to a screeching halt, requiring onerous patent searches, or we can have a functioning patent system that recognizes that 98% of patents won’t matter.

Prior art searches are only a portion of the issues I have with the Patent Office. The fools who want to make software not patentable don’t realize that all of their problems could be addressed by forcing the Patent Office to follow the law as written. Yes, that would almost totally wipe out Software Patents. It would also virtually wipe out Business Method patents, Bio-Tech patents, most computer hardware patents, most automotive patents, most pharmaceutical patents, etc.

Why won’t the Patent Office follow the law? There are several reasons:

1) Patent Examiners aren’t well enough trained.
2) Not enough examiners have expertise in the Arts.
3) The Patent Office isn’t hiring the examiners that they need.

We constantly see patents issued that DO NOT extend the Art. The reason we see them is that the Examiners aren’t capable of doing the job.

Wayne

Since Dudas has left I had the chance to meet him. I thoroughly enjoyed my meeting with him. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and I felt bad about some of the things I wrote in the past. Not substantively, but I do wish I realized how much of a nice guy he was. I don’t think he is evil or the devil, but I do think the claims and continuations rules would have destroyed the patent system. I don’t think he was up to the task in the same way as Kappos. That is why I really think we need a patent attorney or at the very least someone who well understands the patent system, why companies obtain patents and the process for obtaining patents from start to finish.

Cheers.

-Gene

I will bet you dimes to donuts that he will be on upper USPTO management’s speed dial for quite some time to come. He certainly cleared up a huge mess, in a very short period of time, and his dedication is very remarkable.

Stan~

There is probably no surfeit of qualified personnel to manage the USPTO, but I tend to think that David was exceptionally good at his job. Teresa Rea should provide a mostly seamless transition, as she is obviously a very clever and well educated person, who can most likely carry the new agenda forward very handily and with a minimum of pomp and circumstance. Your interviews with several folks at the USPTO are especially useful in this regard, to get a sense of where some might be going.

Best regards,
Stan~

Yes he would make a great judge in my opinion, and a very good replacement for the recently retired Judge Paul Michel, who understood patent law very clearly. He retired *early* so he could speak freely about his opinions on patent reform. http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2011/07/10/torpedoing-patent-rights/id=18022/

Rader, Newman, and Kappos would be a powerful force in the current 101 wars.

I have heard Kappos to the CAFC, but I think that is largely wishful thinking. Not that it wouldn’t be a good move, and not that he wouldn’t be interested, but I haven’t heard it from anyone who I would say is doing anything more than speculating (and hoping). Of course, I was wrong about Kappos leaving the USPTO.

-Gene

That would be a very good thing, to bring some reason and knowledge to patent issues in the FedCirc when they arise. Kappos must have been the bearer of very serious responsibilities and pressure during his tenure at the PTO, even if only in his own mind.

Who knows, some of our Supreme Court Justices might even start to listen, when experience and wisdom speak out clearly and rationally about patent disputes.

I wish that I had 1/20th of his work ethic.

It always moved me (actually, blew my mind) when he took time to actually listen to my thoughts, recommendations, and complaints. He did that repeatedly at conferences. Little old me!

I was especially happy to see him defend software patents, vigorously, at a time when half the Supreme Court probably hates them.

I will miss him as Director so much.